Van L. Crawford

In 2018, Van was the project manager for the McDonald’s campaign with TheGrio.com.

The goal of their new Big Mac campaign was to drive awareness and provoke consideration. Van managed the deliverables for all of the editorial/social custom content for their "Rediscover The Love" initiative re-introducing the Big Mac, which is now served in 3 different sizes. 

TheGrio team created a custom video series called "We'll Always Have Love For You" to connect a timeless love for Big Macs to creative references from theGrio.com’s readers' favorite on-screen/real life couples (two TV-famous couples, and one real life couple were used). The 3-part series rolled out across theGrio.com, with new episodes each week across all editorial and social platforms. Van worked hard to integrated comedians in the videos to add levity. 

Van managed all aspects of the of the campaign (social, video, editorial, ad media), and worked closely with appropriate staffing to help execute the timely deliverables. 

Watch Episode 1: Honeymoon Phase

Watch Episode 2: I Want You Back

Watch Episode 3: We Belong Together

While serving as the Marketing Manager for The Shadow League, in 2017 Van worked with AT&T on a four-part event series targeting business professionals, tastemakers, influencers, current/retired athletes, etc. The goal was to intentionally execute the events in several key-markets (New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C.) to amplify the reach/visibility. 

The team partnered with synergistic brands (NABJ, Buick, & NCAA) to broaden their appeal, in hopes of nurturing in a new audience.  

Van worked with FOX to host digital ads on TheGrio’s website to be aligned with their television programming. Van & TheGrio’s Sales team also created a live-tweeting partnership to amplify awareness amongst their readers. Celebrity engagement was high as a result of their tweets. Artists such as DJ Khaled, Diddy, Fergie, and others would commonly respond, re-share their posts, yielding high visibility.

In 2014-2015, Van worked at Radio One, Inc. as a Digital Marketing & Advertising Associate. Van primarily worked with two stations leading the charge to amplify their reach through strategic marketing tactics that also gave them more visibility on social media. In addition, Van helped to secure local/national advertisements for commercial-play.

In September 2014, Van served as a Production Assistant for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, he worked with the IMG team to manage all of the logistics of all events (pre/post/during). Van worked closely with designers, and sponsorship clients to ensure all on-site needs were met. After only volunteering once, he was brought back for a freelancer role with more leadership for the following seesons.

Van took his role seriously, and that reflected in his performance. He received the opportunity to interact with top-level executives during this time, and make sure that they left the fashion shows with an indelible positive impression.

Van currently serves as the Brand Marketing Officer at theGrio, acquired by Entertainment Studios in 2016. While working hard to properly position the brand name, he also works collaboratively with Entertainment Studios (ES) on fully integrated deals. He has done advertising with several ES films: Hostiles, 47 Meters, etc.

In 2017, Amtrak became a direct client of theGrio.com, as an advertiser. Amtrak display and pre-roll advertisements ran on TheGrio.com with run-of-site media placements; in addition to branded travel content. Van is the liaison between the Sales & Editorial teams at theGrio, so he managed all of the deliverables/timeline for the campaign.

The best Black History Month trips to Harlem, Philadelphia and Washington DC

Smart entrepreneurs explain how to make travel a part of your success story

In 2016, while working as the Marketing Manager at TheShadowLeague.com, Van worked with Buick as an advertiser. They sponsored several event during March Madness, as they were the one of NCAA partners as well, so this was a synergistic partnership.

In 2017, Nissan became of TheGrio.com’s advertisers. They partnered together to do a custom four-part travel video series called Journeyman. Van managed the deliverables between the content and production teams.

Travel to the majestic Luray Caverns with theGrio’s #Journeyman

TheGrio’s ‘Journeyman’ travel series delivers adventure you didn’t think was possible

Van interviewed celebrity trainer, Latreal Mitchell (trainer to Michel Strahan, Terry Crews, etc.) for her promotional tour as a train on Khloe Kardashian’s Revenge Body on E!

Here’s the two interviews:

First Interview

Second Interview

Van currently serves as the Senior Brand Marketing Manager at TheGrio.com (under Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios).

In this capacity, Van has worked with with A-list talent and corporate brands (i.e. – Lala Anthony, McDonald’s, FOX, Nissan) on a wide array of activities, which include spearheading all internal sponsorship deliverables, establishing the company’s brand positioning in the marketplace, coordinating promotional events, developing strategies to grow organic traffic around branded content, managing video & photo shoots, and building innovative ideas that can be monetized to meet revenue/sales goals.

From December 2015 - January 2017 Van served as the Marketing Manager for The Shadow League. He worked closely with sales sales initiatives and the social media team to cross-promote all of the content.

Van served as a Production Assistant for MTV’s hit show, TRL, in 2017. He worked closely with the producers and other team members to manage logistics during the actual recording.